asked the Minister for Local Government if he is aware of allegations that a large number of land and estate agents, auctioneers and developers seem to have full access to the maps and explanatory memoranda of the draft Dublin County development map; if he is aware of the actions of land speculators moving in for purchases of land in such draft designated areas; and what legislative action he proposes to take to prevent and/or recover such speculative gains.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Dublin Land Speculators.
69.
I am aware that allegations have been made that copies of the proposed second draft development plan for County Dublin may be in the hands of persons who may not be entitled to have them.
I understand from the county council that copies of the maps and written statement which comprise the proposed draft plan were supplied to the members of the council who are at present considering the draft proposals prior to publication in the normal way, that no copies of the proposed draft plan have been made available to any member of the public by the County Planning Department, and that in view of the fact that allegations have been made that copies of the documents are in the hands of unauthorised persons it was thought advisable to have the matter fully investigated by the garda authorities; this is at present being done. I understand that the meetings of the council at which the contents of the proposed draft have been discussed, have been held in public and that representatives of the Press were free to attend.
I have no information about any transactions in land in County Dublin which might be attributable to disclosure of the contents of the proposed draft plan. I would remind the Deputy that at this stage the designation of lands for development can have no more effect than the publication of the previous draft plan. A revised draft plan has yet to be officially adopted. It must be put on public display and objections must be considered before any development plan is formally adopted. I need hardly point out that there may be changes.
On the general subject of building land prices, the Deputy will know that I recently announced the appointment of a committee, under the chairmanship of a High Court judge, to examine all aspects of the problem.
Would the Minister accept that inevitably where draft development plans of a fairly hard and final nature are made available to a substantial number of persons, whether public representatives or otherwise, a great deal of speculation evolves around land values of particular zoned areas? Would the Minister agree that even if legislative action is now contemplated by him or by the Government, inevitably the door has been left open and gains have been made of a substantial speculative nature? I put it to him, for example, that in South County Dublin land changes hands at £500 per acre and on that basis some people have made quite substantial fortunes. This is all based on information coming from local authorities.
The County Planning Department did not make the draft plans available to any member of the public. They were given to the members of the council and they were asked to keep the contents to themselves. The making available of information regarding future zoning and development for certain areas as contained in the revised draft plan should not have a great effect on land values because it would follow fairly generally the principles laid down in the previous draft plan. The local authorities sanitary services programme is fairly well publicised. Generally, I think the Deputy would accept that this type of activity on the part of speculators is very hard to avoid because it would be impracticable, I think to expect that the information could be kept secret, especially as the Press were allowed to attend the meetings and the matter is discussed in public and the councillors who represent members of the public naturally would be interested to discuss the contents with the people they represent and to have their point of view and to carry that point of view to the discussion table when the plan is being discussed by councillors. Generally, although I accept that there could be a tendency on the part of some speculators to try to benefit, there is no great evidence that they have in fact benefited from such disclosures as the Deputy alleges. The matter was put in the hands of the Garda when it was discovered some documents were missing and that is being investigated. I do not think there is very much more that I could do to prevent the type of occurence which the Deputy is inquiring about.